Hello there,
This week I’m thrilled to introduce my first guest author for my newsletter. He is one in my band of brothers and one of the smartest people I know.
Ladies and Gentlemen… give it up for…
? Mutwiri ?
Two weeks ago, Muigai wrote about constraints and left you with a few philosophical questions to ponder over.
He asked:
- What if we viewed life through the limit lense?
- Would it increase inertia or lead to a clearer path to our destination?
Today, we will take on ‘the role of constraints in our lives’ by exploring how we can apply TOC to our innate human healing processes. In the literal sense, healing does not necessarily mean healing from physical illness, or return to the level of functioning pre-illness, only. It is (in my definition) the restoration of a sense of meaning, purpose, sense of self and quality of life, despite struggles with the illness.
Here we go!!
Healing as a System
Many times, we are often healing from something, or towards something. As is the common theme in 2020, our ‘illness’ might be metaphysical. Reeling from the shock of 2020, many of us need to create new systems of meaning for our lives. This will require high agency on our part, and itself, this will resemble new character formation.
Depending on which literature you reference, psychological healing is a 6-step process. Acceptance, insight, action, self-esteem, healing, then meaning. Jumping over a gorge cannot be done in two steps. We believe that constraints thinking can help in implementing a personal ‘healing’ process.
The first step: acceptance. This is the step in which we make the conscious decision to ‘heal.’ In the constraint’s language, it corresponds with “what part of the system are we trying to improve?” By acceptance, we ask ourselves, “How much of my ‘shituation’ am I willing to challenge and I accept, have direct power and influence over?” “Where I spend my energy shows my priorities,” goes a popular maxim. Perhaps, it might have dawned on you that you are spending less time on important things and spending more time on more trivial things. In this case, we would isolate “using our time wisely” as the constraint that we seek to ‘heal’.
The second step: insight. Admission leads to insight and a change in our internal narrative. In the constraint’s language, we ask, “How do we get the most with what we have got?” Here, we monitor the details of our illness in order to decide what actions to take. If spending time wisely is our constraint, how might we be able to understand where we tend to go wrong in misallocating time? Could it be that we have a hard time setting goals or sticking to them? Perhaps we set lofty goals but lack the discipline to see them through?
Our third step, action helps us to take steps towards ‘affecting the change” we seek. Our “using time wisely” plan of action might be focused on investing in time management (training, reading a book about the topic, downloading an app that helps stay accountable, or tracking our calendar activities a lot more closely. In planning our action steps, it’s important to stay in our 3-foot world. Controlling what we can, ignoring what we can’t.
Our fourth and fifth steps are conjoined, self-esteem & healing. They relate to the action we take that allows us to have better outcomes for our chosen constraint (some people prefer to look at them as levers, not constraints). In order to match the direction, we have taken with determination, it is important to remain motivated in seeing through the process. In the constraint’s language, we strive to improve on key actions we identified in step three by seeking further ways to elevate how we are spending our time. According to Seth Godin, it is when we develop a stronger character with our relationship with time and become accustomed to the chaos of now.
The last step is about meaning. As an iterative step, it is about crafting our new narrative and allowing ourselves to witness the result of our healing process. It is when we discover that our broken bones are finally healed and we are able to lift heavy objects once more. It is when we realize that in order to govern against inertia, we must keep an active calendar at all times. It is when we don’t take kindly to anyone or anything “wasting our time.” It is when we become better at goal setting. And according to Angela Davis, it is when we learn to raise questions.
In the writing of this article, this tweet had the most impact on me, as well as the quote below.“The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm fearsome, but could never see that the dangers were a reason to continue strolling on the beach.” ~ Van Gogh in a letter to his brother Theo in 1882
Best Stuff I Read
1. The Secret Economic Lives of Animals
Economists study human behavior. “Nobody ever saw a dog make a fair and deliberate exchange of one bone for another with another dog,” Adam Smith sniffed in The Wealth of Nations. The ability to “exchange one thing for another,” he declared, “is common to all men, and to be found in no other race of animals.” Later economists, inheriting Smith’s self-regard, rechristened man Homo economicus in the belief that rational self-interest defined the human species. Even John Maynard Keynes, the father of modern economics, attributed our irrational choices to “animal spirits.”
But an animal spirit can actually be entrepreneurial.
This piece introduces us to the biological markets with pertinent questions about nature.
- How could two animals work together when Darwin’s theory of evolution taught about the survival of the fittest?
- Shouldn’t natural selection always favor ruthless self-interest?
- Why do animals not always kill each other?
- Why is aggression limited?
—> Read the Post. Hint: “Partner choice is the main thing driving any market.”
2. Ten Black Philosophers That Should Be Taught In Schools
Our journey through philosophical history goes something like this: Aristotle — Boethius — Aquinas — Descartes — Hume — Kant — Russell — Singer. There are others, of course, but you get the picture: it’s very European and very male.
On a basic level, this is fine. You cannot do justice to philosophy and not teach western philosophy and you cannot teach western philosophy without discussing these giants in the field. Recent events have encouraged us to widen our scope, however.
—> Read the Post. Is there anything in Africa?
What I’m Watching
In 1985 Dallas, electrician and hustler Ron Woodroof works around the system to help AIDS patients get the medication they need after he is diagnosed with the disease.
Feel free to shoot me an email anytime with comments, critiques, and open-ended questions.
Till next Saturday, take care.
Happy weekend
Solomon Muigai.